‘Thankful for Delhi CM, Punjab CM…’: Raghav Chadha on Rajya Sabha nomination

Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha on Monday thanked party boss and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, as well as new Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, for his nomination as a Rajya Sabha MP. “I have come to file a nomination for Rajya Sabha. I want to thank Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for nominating me at such a young age,” Chadha, 33, told news agency ANI. He said that he, if elected to the Upper House, would raise issues concerning the people of Punjab and protect their interests.

Chadha, a Delhi MLA, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, and IIT-Delhi professor Dr Sandeep Pathak are among the AAP’s Rajya Sabha picks, as is Ashok Mittal, the founder and chancellor of Punjab’s Lovely Professional University.

Voting for 13 Rajya Sabha seats will be held on March 31, with five vacant in Punjab, three in Kerala, two in Assam, and one each in Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Tripura.

Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal in a message asked the new state ministers to perform or perish as Bhagwant Man continues to enforce the government’s anti-corruption agenda.

Punjab this month became the second state where the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is in power; the party won 92 of 117 seats to defeat the ruling Congress. Bhagwant Mann took oath as chief minister last week in a grand manner at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, in Nawanshahr district. Just after AAP’s victory in Punjab, cricketer Harbhajan Singh had congratulated Bhagwant Mann on Twitter. 

Victory in Punjab is set to give AAP a big boost in numbers in the Rajya Sabha. Currently, AAP has only three MPs in the Upper House. Meanwhile, the BJP bagged rest of the four states – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa in the recently-held assembly elections.

Also read: BREAKING: Harbhajan Singh, Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha are likely AAP picks for Rajya Sabha polls